"I confess it doesn't appeal to me. Is that definitely going to be what it wants, though? Maybe it just thinks single people are depressing or it had a date who neglected it in favor of someone who went stag, or whatever - traditionally how do you find out what a ghost wants?"

"It boils down to some combination of guess and ask," shrugs Giles.

"So it will probably be able to talk?"

"With any luck, yes," he says.

"Okay. Maybe I won't even have to kill it, then."

"Maybe not," he says, looking doubtful.

"I will if I can't reason with it. And it's killed enough people that I will if it seems reasonable but I think it's lying. But it'd be nice if it could just calm down and not have to - disperse. It already died once, that's more than enough."

He nods soberly.

"I'm not sure if this place is better or worse than Shell Bell's before she fixed it up, but it's sure not a great world. I'd trade Amariah, if I thought she'd take the trade, if there was a way to trade," sighs Bella.

"I don't think she'd take it," he says dryly.

"I don't know, she might, as a favor. She might be better equipped to handle this world than me. Friendly spells she can make up to suit her needs on the spot! Who needs super punching ability?" Juliet shrugs. "But this is the one I got, so I'll do what I can do."

"An admirable attitude," says Giles.

"Well, if I'd got Amariah's world, I'd be Amariah, I think is how it works. So," she shrugs and trails off. "Have you got a book on ghosts?"

"I have several," he says, adjusting his glasses. "I'll go get them, shall I?"

"Yes please."

He fetches a sizeable stack of books and sets them on the table.

Bella sets about reading them instead of her usual work on demons-in-general. "Do most Slayers get this much reading, or do they leave the booklearning to their support teams?" she asks.

"Most Slayers don't get this much reading," he says, "but it's more than clear that you work best on complete information."

"I am glad that is understood, it'd be a nightmare to have to fight you on that or work around you," says Bella, humming a little.

"Given what you did with just common knowledge about vampires, it would be a sin for me to keep you ignorant about any other supernatural threat."

"Unfortunately, the other supernatural threats don't have allergies to such easily available materials, at least not known, but that one that has to be twisted apart - knowing that was super-useful," says Bella. "And - hm - it looks like I should expect the ghost to be someone who died hereabouts. Probably at a prom. How far back do your records go?"

"Reasonably far," he says.

"Is there one where they're surprised and not referring to any earlier incidents? First death-at-a-prom?"

"Not that I've found," he says. "Yet."

"Well, if you run across one, could be useful. I'll focus on ghosts-in-general if you'll work on identity-of-this-ghost, fair?"